Fuel Injected Suicide Machines and Fosters Lager = Fun!

OPEN IMAGE GALLERY

Fuel efficiency? Bah! I scoff at your fuel efficiency! (photo by Chris Hamberlin)

"Welcome to the official opening night of the Alamo South Lamar Drive-In," said Tim League, addressing an enthusiastic 100-plus crowd already primed on barbie-fied shrimp and liter upon liter of Fosters Lager (it's Australian for "Budweiser"). "I know that where you're sitting looks a lot like a fire lane, but trust me, this is all totally above board. And I also realize Hurricane Ike is threatening to show up and blow our beautiful Rolling Roadshow screen over, but please, Ike, just give us two hours to watch one of the greatest action movies of all time."

And with that, the Alamo kicked off the first of several free-to-the-public events surrounding the now-monumentally awesome Fantastic Fest. Last Friday's Mad Max screening was just the first of a handful of films from down under being screened at Fantastic Fest 2008 but, along with its sequel The Road Warrior, which screens this coming Friday, it's one of the few that demands to be seen within the context of a drive-in-style outdoor venue.

It worked, the crowd was psyched (especially Alamo co-founder Karrie League, who had never borne witness to the fuel-injected kickassery that is Mel Gibson's finest hour-and-a-half), and not even Ike's ominous westward rumblings could put a dent in the proceedings. Even cooler is the fact that, as League revealed to us post-Max, the former fire lane really and truly has been approved by the Austin Fire Department for use as a permanent, additional outdoor screening area. How cool is that? Cooler than a '73 Ford Falcon XB GT Coupe aka Max Rockatansky's V-8 Interceptor. Scorchingly so.